FOX Soccer recorded its most-watched FA Cup match ever when 460,000 viewers watched the FA Cup sixth round match between Manchester United and Chelsea on Sunday, March 10.

The 2-2 result, which was commentated by Gus Johnson and Ian Wright, comes hot on the heels of the 520,000 who watched Manchester United against Real Madridon FOX Soccer. That UEFA Champions League match was played on March 5, 2013.

EPL Talk can also reveal the TV viewing audience for the February 24 match between Manchester City and Chelsea that was shown on FOX Soccer. That game had an average viewing audience of 248,000.

How do these numbers compare to the MLS? On the opening weekend of the new season, 221,000 watched Portland against New York on ESPN2, while 107,000 viewed DC United against Houston on NBC Sports Network.

About Christopher Harris

Founder and publisher of World Soccer Talk, Christopher Harris is the managing editor of the site. He has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Guardian and several other publications. Plus he has made appearances on NPR, BBC World, CBC, BBC Five Live, talkSPORT and beIN SPORT.
Harris, who has lived in Florida since 1984, has supported Swansea City since 1979. He's also an expert on soccer in South Florida, and got engaged during half-time of a MLS game.
Harris launched EPL Talk in 2005, which was rebranded as World Soccer Talk in 2013.
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What about the rest of the crap ratings the EPL has on fox? 460K is not good for the record. I also love you have to bash MLS in there too an 18 year old leage in the US compared to the EPL. You represent everything that is wrong with soccer fans in this country and are the reason it is not more mainstream. Dont quit your day job!

the problem with MLS on ESPN in the first two weeks is both games were shown late night on Sunday, not the best time to put on matches (last Sunday it was a 10PM east coast kickoff, if you work early next morning you cannot watch it)

It is interesting to see the spread in those viewership numbers between EPL-related games versus MLS games.

MLS has such an uphill battle for American eyeballs given the incredible amount of soccer that we have on TV. Given that many Americans don’t have a “local” MLS team, it’s hard to blame them for not watching MLS when the quality of play isn’t at the same level as these other leagues.

I DO tend to think American fans should at least try to pay some attention to MLS. It’ll only serve the product here and that should (maybe) improve our national team, but I certainly can’t blame someone with limited time for only following their EPL club.

Firstly, as Dust said, that is the Gaffer’s job and he’s damn good at it.

Secondly, he was just showing the numbers, not his fault you (read Americans in general)don’t watch more MLS.

Thirdly, you are on EPLTALK not MLSTALK so even if he was expressing his unfavorable opinion about the MLS (which again he wasn’t) it would be justified. The MLS is quite poor in all aspects when you compare it with the top leagues in Europe.

And fourthly, you are quite a thick head (and a jerk on top of it) for not noticing my first 3 points in his post.

let’s remember that most people here in the US don’t have fox soccer channel so they flock to their local pubs and watch it together on the bars tv. 460,000 viewers is a huuuuuge understatement of the real amount of people watching the games. Unless that’s factored in, which I don’t think it is.

Must be some really huge sports bars around! In any case rather risky stealing satellite feeds. Fox Soccer is part of a huge corporation that looks after its copyright interests..

If watching FOX at a bar during the day, or evening, the numbers are figured in to the tallies. There’ just aren’t tens of thousands watching at sports bars, We may wish the total viewers are more, but they are not. The advertisers know the numbers very well.

Before this season, a full schedule of FA Cup games did not appear on U.S. television. Also, matches before Man United and Chelsea were earlier rounds. Sad to say these numbers are all low compared to daytime soaps and talk shows.

THe MLS Portland-New York match did begin at 10 PM ET But, Euro games are all during daytime, weekdays and weekends. That won’t change.